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20 July 2010

You wouldn't think if you visited a National Cemetery in the United States you would find German Prisoner of War burials. Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta, Michigan has 26 such prisoners.

Fort Custer, Augusta, Michigan was a training camp during World War II. It also housed about 5,000 German prisoners from 1943-1946. During this time, 16 of the prisoners were killed when their truck was struck by a train. They had been returning to the fort from a work detail. The other 10 prisoners died of natural causes.

The German Prisoners of War Buried at Fort Custer National Cemetery, Augusta, Michigan

Brenda, Today my dad and I went to visit my brother's gravesite at Fort Custer National Cemetery. My brother died on Flag Day 2009 (June 14). As we were leaving we passed by the German Memorial, being curious and part German ourselves we stopped to see what it was about. Your blog answered some of our remaining questions. Thank you. Nicole

Wow, I was excited to see this information. My dad and I are researching this topic. His cousin, Rolf Arnold, was a German POW who was killed in the truck/train collision at Blissfield. Thanks to your info. we were able to view the actual tombstone with his name on it via the internet, and we've also been able to dig up alot more detail about the accident and the German POWs in general. One interesting tidbit, is that the German POWs buried at Fort Custer are listed as US servicemen. Rolf is classified as being in the US Navy with a rating of CSR3. This was probably done so that they qualified to be buried in a US military cemetery and so the public would not be horrified to find German enemies buried together with their servicemen relatives. History is fascinating isn't it. Thanks for doing this research.

Dear Branda,thank you for this good research. My father was pow in Fort Custer from end 1944 to spring 1946. He worked as a cook. He told me and my son a lot about this camp. He was very impressed, that the Americans burried the germans, who died in the accident like their own soldiers with all military honor and not as the bad enemy. He has brought back to germany a paper, which give him the right to get 12 Dollars from the american gevernment in germany for his work as a cook in the camp.My son and I plan to Visit the Site in Mai/june 2014. My father died in march 2009, nearly 88 years old. By his last visit in summer 2008 my son and he did a lot of internet research for camp custer and he told my son a lot of world war two. He said to him, that such war did never come back and we have to do all we can for peace. My son is today a soldier in the german army and he sees his duty as a part of working for peace.

Dear Rolf, Thank you for commenting on this blog. It is great that your dad shared his experiences with you. Fort Custer is still here and being used for various training purposes. The cemetery is not far from the Fort. Best wishes, Brenda

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